


Here's Where The Story Ends

by siruru



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Gender-Neutral Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Grief/Mourning, M/M, Patch 5.0: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Pining, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:35:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26460502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siruru/pseuds/siruru
Summary: Emet-Selch and his musings on the Warrior of Light and another lifetime.
Relationships: Azem/Solus zos Galvus | Emet-Selch, Solus zos Galvus | Emet-Selch & Warrior of Light
Comments: 4
Kudos: 35





	1. light & dark.

**Author's Note:**

> for emetwol2020 week.
> 
> i am bit iffy at writing at emet-selch, so please let me know what you think.
> 
> thank you and enjoy!

> _ Azem is a known user of strange magicks. Each time they return, it must be registered with the Bureau.  _

It was a discussion topic that came up from time to time, usually when said Convocation member returned from a mission of theirs. Researching and connecting with new cultures and their traditions, it was only natural that Azem would bring back something new each time that they came back. It was only logical, but there were still those that picked it up as a subject of debate with the fourteenth Convocation member. 

“Does it not bother you?” Emet-Selch asks them once, as he watches them leave the debate arena once more, which causes them to pause and look at the white-haired man. 

“You have to be more specific about your question, my friend,” they answer back in a teasing tone that makes Hades frown. They knew what he meant but his dear friend had a tendency of wanting specifics when they clearly understood each other after years of friendship. 

“Does it not bother you that you must spend too much time calming people’s fears,” Hades answers back, “Your role in the Convocation is clearly stated...Yet, there are still those that would question the knowledge and ideas you bring back.” 

Azem looks at him for a moment, but there is only so much he can see with that familiar black mask covering their face. A second later, they let out a warm chuckle that both soothes and angers him all the same. 

“I understood that this came with the role when I took it up, Hades,” they switch to the familiarity of his personal name, “People will always fear change, but if I through discussion and debate can make them see something new, then my job has been completed for now.”

Azem smiles at him, but Hades could tell that quirk of a smile was hiding something else -- a topic that they did not want to speak of at the moment and so he let it go. Instead, he asked about their most recent adventures and Azem realized them about the places they had seen and the people they had met. However, he cannot help but note that even someone like Azem, someone that shined like the sun, had darker shades of their personality as well. 

He was not sure what to think about that at that moment in time. 

Later on, Emet-Selch tries not to laugh at the irony that this Warrior of Light, this shard of Azem, tries their hardest to learn any type of magic they can get their hands on -- still playing with light and darkness all the same. 


	2. rain/ocean.

> _ The Warrior of Darkness was born on the island near Khoulsia. The Warrior of Light had not seen the ocean until they had reached  _ _ Limsa Lominsa _ _.  _
> 
> _ Azem was a different story all together.  _

“I do not understand how this new creation magick cannot be done within the city limits,” Hades huffs in slight annoyance as Azem laughs. As much work and even how frustrated he might be with his friend’s antics, Hades would still follow them if that is what they asked of them. 

_ “A single word from their lips,” _ he can hear  Hythlodaeus chuckles in the back of his mind,  _ “and you would follow them without any excuse, my friend.”  _

However, Emet-Selch pushes those thoughts behind him as he watches Azem walk towards the coastline that edged the limits of Amaurot. Unlike him, the wandering Convocation member had come to the city to further their studies, they were always coming and leaving in their role because they knew nothing else. As much as Hades liked to think they would be happy staying in Amaurot for some extended amount of time, they were already planning their next adventure as soon as they returned. 

As much as Azem was the sun, they would be the sea as well -- coming and going whenever they wished. Or maybe he was just being a bit too dramatic about their constant absence. 

“Hades,” the call of his name makes him look up, as he sees Azem sitting in the middle of the ocean. The sea water reaches their waist and as much as he wants to say something he watches the event in silence, “Watch.” 

Emet-Selch watches them wave their hands as their familiar magick circles around them. However, it soon takes a whiter glow as they proceed to skim their hands over the waves around them. Emet-Selch cannot see the patterns they are making, but it soon becomes clear to him as he sees the sign of all the Convocation members appear above the ocean’s surface. 

The Speaker. The Emissary. The Architect. 

They are all soon followed by the rest of the Convocation, as he stands there stunned at the sight. It was not not very strong magick, a mere parlor trick, but as Azem removes their hood and smiles at him. Well, it takes him a while to breathe again when they direct their smile at him underneath the magick’s glow. 

“Lovely, is it not?” they ask with a quick of their lips, as Hades stands there stunned. 

In that single moment, Azem was the sun, the stars, and the sea all wrapped in one for his eyes alone. 

It was also in that moment that Hades realized something about his own feelings in regards to his dear friend, and for eons after the fact he would look to the oceans of the shards wondering if he would ever see those stars again. 


	3. i knew you once/kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> playing with my own personal headcanons about the reincarnation of souls and hades/azem

_“I knew you once,”_ a soft voice reaches out to Solus. It is weary and full of delirium from the fever she is facing, but that is not the thing that causes him to pause, “ _Did I not?”_

In all the time that they had known each other, there were moments where he had noticed who his wife’s sundered soul once belonged to. Maybe that is what had drawn him to her in the first place, but he knew because it was still whole -- underneath the mask of the budding Emperor was an ancient and tired being. 

He knew sundered souls should not remember their pasts lives, but as he stared at his ailing wife, Emet-Selch could not help but wonder and maybe even hope. Thus, he leans in little closer to her bed and asks what she meant by all that, only to be met with a tired laugh and the pleading question of where was their child. 

Hades lets out a pathetic laugh before putting on the face of Solus zos Galvus once more. 

In the early years of his reign, Emperor Solus zos Galvus loses his first Empress Consort and eldest child due to the epidemic that sweeps the small nation. No record or portraits of them are ever found within the imperial household again.

* * *

However,  _ I knew you once _ is something that he had heard once or twice before in the many eons that he had lived. 

He had heard it on the lips of a dying soldier just a moment too late, in the eyes of a foreign priestess that dared to rise against the Allagan Empire. He dreamed about it when it came to his young wife and child. 

As long as he had been trying to find a way to rejoin all thirteen shards, Hades was trying to find Azem as well but it never worked out well for him. Once again, he is in the same place once more, with their sundered self staring at him with some other emotion that is not the love and adoration that he remembers, and it almost breaks him all over again.

Their hair might be a bit longer, their eyes a paler shade than they were once and their soul a bit lighter than before, but the Warrior of Light is the closest thing to his beloved that he has seen in a _ very, very _ long time. Maybe, that’s why he says it in such a way in the end. 

_ “Back when the world was whole, we had families, friends, loves...Not that you would remember any of this.”  _

And maybe he wants them to remember, for them to say those words that he has only heard when death swallows the sun’s shard once more. However, the Warrior of Light only looks at them in confusion, unsure of what to say to his little tirade. 

It makes Emet-Selch almost want to kiss them, but it would not be Azem at the end of it all. 

It had not been for eons. Thus, he backs away with a turn of his coat and a wave of his hand, he leaves the Warrior of Light standing there in utter bewilderment. 


	4. sleeping.

“You are going to get wrinkles from your constant lack of sleep,” a voice laughs from the entrance of his office as Emet-Selch turns to look at who would be bothering at such a dreaded hour. Azem just smiles and adds, “My dear Hades.”

Their kind, back when they were whole, did not need much sleep to begin but Hades tended to push that limit even further. Sometimes, he went without sleep for days only to crash in his office or home the moment the problem had been dealt with. 

“There are still things that need to be looked at,” Hades remarks as Azem comes closer. The problems that their home was starting to face was also one of many things that kept the man up at night. Each new report Azem sent back adding more detail to the slow destruction that none of the members of the Convocation could truly understand. 

“The problems will still be there once you have rested,” Azem answers back and Hades can tell that they are frowning by their tone of voice, “But, your lack of disregard towards taking care of yourself with only frustrate you in the end and bring no resolution to them.” 

Hades frowns at their chiding. How can they rest when their home and everything they cared for was on the verge of being destroyed little by little each day? 

Their eyes meet and Azem pats the seat next to them on the large couch that overlooks the city through a large window in his office. Hades lets out a breath that he had been holding in as he makes his way over to them. 

_“An hour,_ ” he states, finally giving in as Azem grins. 

“An hour,” they echo back in agreement, as he takes a next to them. 

His body is quick to adjust to theirs as he leans in and settles next to them. A weary sigh leaves his body over the longing he had faced since he had left, over the tiredness that was now weighing down on him, and a million other thoughts that seem to rattle in his brain, but Azem --knowing him so well-- will have none of that as they push his hood back a slowly run their fingers through Hades’ white hair. 

He is asleep on their shoulder in a matter of minutes. 

And for eons, Emet-Selch will try recreate that peace once more using sleep as a way to try to remember what he had and ignore everything that was lost around him. He welcomed sleep like an old friend, but it could never replicate Azem’s touch or their voice. 

No, that would not happen until much, much later -- when he finds the Warrior of Light dozing underneath of the many trees near Lakeland. Emet-Selch has many words at the tip of his tongue, but they all die when they groggily pat the area next to them. 

Said words all die in the familiarity of their gesture and for once he puts up no fight as he sits next to them, if only to live briefly in the imitation of something he had missed for so long. Nothing else is said, as golden eyes watch the slumbering hero. A flutter of something ancient and yearning in his heart makes him break the silence. 

_ “Is rest not only for the weak, hero?” _

A slight hum is all he gets in response. 


	5. fight/heal.

> _“---They encountered troubles too, of course. Matters which they would simply have referred to the Convocation . But that was not their way. Nay, more often than not, she would call upon her comrades, and together resolve the matter themselves.”_

They had a fondness for summoning Hades and Hythlodaeus whenever the need arose. It was not that they called upon them for every single little thing, they were aware of how much they were needed back in Amaurot. But, when they found themselves in a life and death struggle that they could not solve themselves, well Hades was first to be called. 

_You should have called us sooner,_ is on the tip of his tongue as he casts another Cure over their injuries, but by now Hades knows that Azem will only call him when it seems fitting -- when there are no other options left on the table. 

“I know my limitations, Hades,” Azem laughs, though it turns into a groan as they move around. Their weapon disappearing into thin air once more, “Should the need arise, I know you are there in a moment’s notice.” 

Hades frowns. He knows he should be bothered by just how easily the person in front of him, has him so easily wrapped around their finger. However, all he can really think about is how each member of the Convocation is supposed to work in pairs, but instead he was left in the city as Azem wandered about their star. 

“If you are so sure of your prowess then my friend,” Hades remarks while hiding his own weapon, “Then I am sure you can return to Amaurot with your wounds like this.” 

Azem pauses for a moment to stare at Hades with a questioning looking. The white-haired man simply frowns before snapping his fingers and returning to the comfort of his office, ignoring the calls and confused pleading from his dear friend. 

That Azem could walk off on their own without a single word had always bothered Hades and, even as the Warrior of Light, it would continue to do so for eons. 


	6. masks.

> _Masks are the equalizers of Amourite society, but at the same time hide many secrets._
> 
> _Azem's face was one of them._

However, it was not that the common masks of the Convocation, and by large Amourite society, hide their lovely face from Hades’ sight on a daily basis -- it was that Azem often hid their emotions too well from anyone. 

Azem had a stubbornness in them that at rare moments in time went up against everything the Convocation had been created for or what its ruling had been at the moment. They were lucky that their title gave them such freedom when they were afar, but that was not the cast anymore as the world slowly crumbled around them. 

Azem had been brought back to speak from their first hand knowledge on what was happening to their dying star. If they were not with one or two members of the Convocation, then they were speaking with the debaters or citizens that had questions for the wandering member, thus slowly Hades saw less and less of them, though they were both in the Convocation. 

At the same time, the ideas for their salvation slowly come into place and take form -- the giving up of half their population to summon Zodiark .It is the best they can do given the circumstances, 

However, as his dearest companion stood in front of him with a serious, blank face --the face they wore as Azem, fourteenth member of the Convocation-- Hades truly wished that there was another way to derail the inevitable. 

“You must do what you think is right, Hades,” they state coolly, “And I must do the same.”

Nothing on their face hides any remorse of them abandoning the Convocation, of leaving him as Hades cannot help but wonder when this decision came to pass. He does not want to think on how hard or how easy the choice was for them, so instead he simply frowns -- hiding behind his own mask of disappointment. 

“What do you intend on doing then?” is how he remarks, but all Azem does is shrug.

“I do not know yet,” they answer back, “But there has to be a better way than this and I intend to find it.” 

But there is not, Hades wants to answer back because the Convocation has looked at this half a million ways and more, and they haven't found a single resolution that would hurt any less than this. _Half their population so that the other half could survive,_ what else could they do?

But, each half knew that there was no arguing with the other. Instead they hide behind masks once more to hide whatever truth they did not wish the other to see. Azem’s eyes meet his and they smiled one last time at Hades. 

“I hope that with whatever you decide to do moving forward,” Azem remarks and for a moment there is a crack of emotion in their façade, “You remember what you are fighting for, Hades. Our people, our way of life. Families, friends, lovers...please do not forget them.” 

> _Please do not forget us._

All Hades can do is nod as Azem disappears with a wisp of their magic and he is left with a promise that he will try to keep for eons. 


	7. eternal bond.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first complete ffxiv story, thank for taking the time to read it.

So, here is where the story ends, where Hades --Emet-Selch, Solus zos Galvus, etc…-- chooses to make his final stand. However, it is not in the glorious return of his people, but in the smoldering and all consuming acceptance that it was best to let his past live through the shard of his dearest companion. 

> _Remember us._

It was for the best, was it nor? 

There wasn’t any real way that he could be certain in the long term of things, but Hades has a feeling that with Azem --at least with a shard of theirs-- that everything they held dear was in the right hands. 

> _Let "encore" be my final word,_
> 
> _Their epilogue to death preferred._

He could only hope that there would be a next time for them. 

* * *

**???.**

“Do you think we can ask him for an encore?”

“Did you enjoy the piece that much, Azem?”

Azem hums in acknowledgement to the silver-haired man beside them as the lights slowly come back up after the performance is completed. Hythlodaeus had invited their coworker to see the musical genius that was his childhood friend -- a prodigy that has traveled the world over but had decided to take a brief hiatus in their city after years on tour. Azem had been curious about this mysterious man to say the least, but there was something else -- like a string was pulling them towards them since Hythlodaeus had invited them. 

The two of them waited until the small concert room, decorated in gold and green Art Deco arches that hid large windows that sparkled with the light of the city, and entered an even smaller hallway that was brimming with people. Hythlodaeus let out a sigh and leaned onto the wall, looking like he was used to this but Azem stayed still for a moment. 

They looked at their friend and motioned that they were going to take a closer look. The older man simply nodded before taking out his tomestone to play with. Azem wasn’t sure while they needed to get a closer look, sure they were a curious person by default, but this felt like something more than that. They pushed a little here and there, through the mess of reporters and other fans, to reach the front of the crowd of people. 

It’s in that moment when it finally happens. Azem’s eyes scan the man in front of them and they freeze. 

_“Hades_ ,” they whisper the man’s name before even thinking about it. Though it should not be heard above all the questions and pleas for attention, it seems to catch the musician’s attention as he zeros in on Azem. 

There is a moment where their eyes meet, and then there is a soft curl on the man’s lips.

For whatever reasons, this bond of theirs was eternal and hopefully it would finally have a happy ending for once. 


End file.
